Katahdin
Katahdin is the main antagonist in the 1979 horror film, Prophecy. She was portrayed by Tom McLoughlin, Charles Flemmer and the late Kevin Peter Hall, and her vocal sound effects were provided by Frank Welker. History In the forest of Maine, a search party sent by a timber company was looking for lost lumberjacks until they reached a ravine, where one of their dogs fell. The men pulled the rope that held the dog, but the rope is cut, letting it fall. Two of the men decide to go down to the ravine to find the dog while the other one waits. Then there were shouts, so he decides to go down. The man slips and falls, but survives, when he reaches the bottom of the ravine he meets the corpses of his companions, and sees something horrible that kills him without mercy. Dr. Robert Verne and his wife Maggie are sent to Maine to settle a dispute between some natives and the paper mill (accused of throwing waste into rivers and mistreating the environment). When they get there they see a dog being lifted by a helicopter, and they meet the owner of the company, Bethel Isely, who tells the Vernes that this dog was the only thing left of the search party, and about the lost lumberjacks. Isely blames the Indians nicknamed Opies, but they blame another deity, a being called Katahdin which is described by Isely as "Larger than a dragon and got the eyes of a cat". After several events, the Vernes would be guided by John Hawks (the leader of the Opies) to meet in person the grandfather of the Opie Ramona Hawks, Hector M'Rai, who calls his home "The garden of Eden." Maggie tells the Indians that they have heard of Katahdin. Ramona says it's a legend, but M'Rai rectifies that mistake. Hector says he has seen Katahdin, and when Maggie asks what he looks like, Hector describes it as "Part of all things created." After a fight with Isely at the paper mill, Robert does research on methyl mercury (which is used in the factory as a chemical), and discovers that if an pregnant living being eats fish contaminated with said chemical, when giving offspring, instead of a healthy spawn, would come a monstrosity. Robert begins to remember the descriptions of Katahdin, without knowing what it is. He decides to take blood samples from the Indians the next morning. That same night, the Nelson family was sleeping peacefully somewhere in the forest, until Katahdin awakens the family, and kills it. The next day, when they hear about the murdered family,Robert decides to go in the helicopter of Huntoon, and when they arrive they discover some clawmarks in the trees, and it is concluded that it was a bear, but Robert finds a fleshy substance, and it is doubtful if it was a bear. Maggie finds two mutant bear cubs, one dead the other alive and they take them to show the negligence of the factory. In the camp of Hector, Isely appears with some men of the company and with the sheriff Bartholomew Pilgrim, to meet what he accidentally created. Robert asks "Did you know?" to which Isely replies "I didn't want to". M'rai appears in the trees and greets the others, but in another part of the camp, Katahdin appears and kills some humans. The mutation pursues the others, who (everybody except M'Rai) hide in underground tunnels. Outside, Katahdin kills some members of the paper mill, until the noise stops. The sheriff (that was also hidden) is going to check if the creature has gone, but Katahdin grabs him and tears his face, killing him. Katahdin finds his dead cub and takes it away. Isely sets out to find a communication tower, leaving others to go to the people of the Indians. Isely sees the tower from a distance, but suddenly he finds one of Katahdin's cubs, and for Isley's bad luck, Katahdin appears and chases him to the communication tower, where Isley tries to pass under a fence that is the entrance to the tower. However, Katahdin reaches and guts him. Robert and his crew decide to go to the nearest city in a jeep left by John Hawks' companions. Suddenly Katahdin appears, and overturns said vehicle. Everyone fled while John Hawks was untying Huntoon, but Katahdin comes close enough to force John out of the place, leaving Huntoon trapped, so that Katahdin finally beheads him. The others run and swim in the lake towards Robert's cabin, but M'rai stops (due to mercury) and try to talk to the beast, but obviously Katahdin kills him, leaving Ramona (that was watching the event) shattered. When arriving at the other side of the lake, the group watched the creature in the distance, which sank, until disappearing from the surface. Robert tought she drowned, but suddenly for a few seconds there is a constant bubbling, and then the creature appears on the surface. Everyone goes to the Vernes' cabin to protect themselves, but Katahdin breaks down the cabin, leaving Maggie and Ramona unconscious, while Robert and John shoot she with bullets and arrows. Robert is carrying Maggie and John continues to shoot the monstrosity, until he hits John Hawks, throwing him through the air until he is already dead. The mutation focuses on Robert, and she grabs him while Robert fights for his life, burying an arrow in the creature's face, piercing his eye, causing Katahdin a tremendous pain, and causing her to fall into the lake. Robert noticing that Katahdin is still alive jumps into the lake and buries the arrow several times in the neck, causing her to drown. Biography Katahdin is a horrifically mutated grizzly bear who has grown to abnormal size. It is believed that her parents consumed fish contaminated with Inorganic Methyl mercury, which caused the mutation of this monster when she was still in the womb (which in turn happens to Katahdin's own offspring). She was named by the local American Indian tribes, and mistaken for an ancient spirit angered by the logging activity on the mountain. The dangerous beast is unusually large for a grizzly bear, and her face and body are hideously deformed. Katahdin is also mentally deranged and hostile, impulsively mauling anyone and anything she comes across. She is drawn to her cubs, which is what causes her to pursue the protagonists throughout the film. After killing the bulk of the main cast, she is finally stabbed to death with an American Indian arrow; however, another Katahdin (the cubs' father) appears just before the end credits. Katahdin is abnormally larger than a normal grizzly bear, as it has been proposed that it is 9,8 feet (approximately 3m) tall and weighs 500kg. Katahdin is also nocturnal several times, although it may appear in the day to follow its prey. Appearance Katahdin turns out to be a bear, but her appearance differs somewhat from that of a common bear, perhaps being a side effect of methyl mercury. Katahdin manages to be recognized for moving on two legs and having a side in an advanced mutated state. Katahdin has a head in which she has a white eye, and sharp teeth. Her body shows thick arms where she has long claws, and her legs have a lot of leftover mass. Katahdin's fur was affected during the time she was in the uterus, and caused many deformities on her left side, and almost even affecting her right side. His fur was lost and reduced to her flesh, which resembles the keloid scars caused by the nuclear bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In addition to losing her fur, she lost many facial features, such as her eye, half of her ear and her lips. Powers, Weaknesses, and Abilities *'Strong Hind-legs': Unlike normal bears, Katahdin is able to walk upright for extensive amounts of time without tiring. This frees up her fore-paws to grasp for prey, though it is unknown if she can travel very fast, I.e quadrupedal (4-legged) galloping. Despite this, it must be mentioned that she has never been seen on 4 legs, so it could be said that she evolved to get up and walk on her hind legs. *'Strength and Resistance': Katahdin possesses great strength, since she has been able to throw people through the air and kill them instantly. She can tear down trees just by pushing them, dump rocks, throw down a jeep just by hitting it and destroy a cabin with few hits. Katahdin also has enormous resistance, because she has a large layer of fat and (even if it causes pain) has resisted human blows, arrow shots and shooting, and is almost indestructible. *'Intellect': Katahdin is not a simple killing machine. She adores her cubs, and woe is all who stand between her and her babies. She will hold a deep hatred for her cub's abductors and anyone invading her turf, relentlessly tracking them and using various tactics like stealth to get close to them. She also knows to stand still and shut up until her prey is within striking distance, unlike typical monsters who roar constantly. This suggests she can indeed think and strategize. Her burned skin more likely than not must be a source of discomfort, making her more irritable than a normal bear, making her especially dangerous. *'Sensitive Eye': Katahdin has only one eye, which turned out to be one of her advantages and her only weakness. The eye of Katahdin detects the movement and manages to see the light of a flashlight at kilometers but also turned out to be very soft and sensitive, being very easily shattered with an Indian arrow, and even jumping out of its basin. *'Can hold her breath/Breathing underwater': Katahdin can dive to the lowest depth of a lake, and can hold her breath, or even breathe underwater. Even so, this is a kind of disadvantage, because there's a visible bubbling above her, just before emerging and attacking. *'Sharp Senses': Katahdin has shown that her senses are extremely keen, as she can detect her cubs despite being unable to see them. She either hears their cries and/or can smell them from miles away. She can also see in near-pitch-blackness, and spot prey from far away, and don't think she cannot find you if you hide deep underground. Her left eye is either absent or obscured by folds of melted skin, so she is partially blind and lacks depth perception. Victims *Search party and a dog (mutilated off screen) *Paul Nelson (killed) *Travis and Kathleen Nelson (killed off screen) *Kelso (hitted) *An indian (burned) *Another indian (exploited) *Three Paper Mill members (killed off screen) *Sheriff Bartholomew pilgrim (killed) *Bethel Isely (gutted) *Huntoon (decapitated) *Hector M'Rai (killed) *John Hawks (killed) Trivia *Katahdin's name comes from an ancient spirit wich is described as "Larger than a dragon and got the eyes of a cat" as Bethel Isely says. *In the film, several times is called "He" and not "She" when is actually female. *Originally Katahdin would be a unique creature, similar to the art of the poster of her movie. This version of the character is mentioned in the trailer, and beeing described differently of her actual appearence. But when they showed the original concept to the director, John Frankenheimer, he said that he wanted it to look more "bear-like". **In the trailer, it is mentioned that Katahdin is 15 feet tall when she is actually lower. Even so, on the internet you can find an image of a poster of the movie, which in the upper left corner mentions "It will grow to be 15 feet tall". It is believed that the poster was removed and changed to a similar one, which can be found on the internet, as well as a few variations for the DVD of the film. *Katahdin was represented in the film by a puppet and three costumes of the suitable size for the actors behind the monster (Tom McLoughlin, Charles Flemmer and Kevin Peter Hall). The puppet were used in only a few sequences, such as close-ups. The costumes for Tom and Charles were just a little higher than a normal person, and the other actors had to be on their knees to give the impression of the creature being taller. As for the costumes for Kevin, they were already large enough for the actors to interact without the need to crouch. *The actual size of Katahdin was discussed for some time, as many said that Katahdin is 15 feet (4.5m) tall based on the "affirmation" of the movie trailer. As for the film itself, the size of Katahdin turns out to be problematic, because depending on the shot, in some she is around 2.5m high and in others she reaches the supposed 4.5m high. However, based on a basic calculation of the scenes where she reaches 4m and the other scenes where she is lower, the result is finally that the height of Katahdin is 3m, even varying in the scenes. It is worth mentioning that there is no official statement or source that says the height of Katahdin, so the 3m height are only an estimation. *Many people who have seen South Park, and who have later seen Prophecy, have often confused Katahdin with Manbearpig, and the majority who have talked about Katahdin, always refer to her as Manbearpig. *John Frankenheimer commented something about Katahdin in a note. He said the following "I think we made two mistakes. One, the audience was way ahead of us. We waited too long to really get to the point. The audience knew, long before the film's hero and heroine, that we were coming to a monster. That's not terribly good. And another thing, I don't think our monster was very frightening". 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